Symantec bumps up online security with Norton Confidential

Symantec's latest software product is designed to make shopping online safer and more secure.

Norton Confidential is an online transaction security solution that protects against phishing and other attacks, and will be released in conjunction with Symantec's TransactSafely website.

Norton Confidential scans both the PC and the web page when a consumer is transacting online for fraudulent activity.

Rather than relying on block lists of fraud sites, the software combines them with "advanced heuristic technology" to find new phishing scams. This is important because phishing attacks are inherently short-lived to escape detection.

It also protects against keystroke loggers and screen capture Trojan horses that go after passwords by detecting and removing the crimeware immediately, as well as encrypting and storing securely login information.

The TransactSafely website, meanwhile, reports on current online threats in simple layman's terms so that users can take measures to protect themselves when shopping online.

Consumers will be able to download a beta version of Norton Confidential later in the summer from the TransactSafely website, with full versions likely to be released in September for the PC and October for the Mac OS.